Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As he walked along the steps to the entrance of the burglar’s hole, Zhang Zian stopped to check tickets and quietly gave looks to the elfins to let them slip in first.
“No bag! No camera!” the doorman said repeatedly as he checked the tickets.
Zhang Zian had initially been traveling light today. When he’d gone out, he had only taken a bottle of mineral water. He had shared it with the elfins just now when he’d had a hard time waiting in the sun, so there was no suspicion of contraband. As for cameras, they had all been replaced by mobile phones now. Few people carried heavy and troublesome cameras with them.
The elfins had already sneaked in, and Zhang Zian turned his head back to look. There was no one else behind him. He could be the last one, and that meant he was the 300th visitor to the pyramid today.
As he walked inside, the huge stones above his head pressed down like dark clouds. In fact, they were a good distance from his head, but he still bowed his head and arched his back instinctively.
It was dark in front of him.
The darkness inside was a strong contrast to the strong sunlight outside.
Although it was not as sunny, the imagined coolness did not come about. It could have been because the big stones absorbed the heat from the sun, causing this place to become a heat insulation box.
Although Egypt had imported German ventilation equipment into the pyramid, the air was still stifling.
This was a burglar’s hole. It was dark and narrow. The light was not clear. He could only go forward with one foot stepping deeply and one foot stepping shallowly.
The elfins were waiting for him here.
“No wonder Galaxy did not want to come in. It is indeed uncomfortable here,” Famous complained in a low voice.
If people felt that it was stifling, animals like cats and dogs that were short would feel that it was even more stifling.
Richard was glad it was standing on Zhang Zian’s shoulder. Although its eyes made it almost blind, it was better than being a living air detector.
“Shh! Hush!”
Old Time Tea had good ears and eyes and was very alert, and it was keenly aware that someone was coming. The lane was so narrow that any small sound would be amplified. It wouldn’t be good if people heard a dog barking in the lane.
A dark shadow appeared in front of him, and before Zhang Zian could even see the other, he was badly hit. Someone bumped into him, and he staggered and took a step or two backward.
“Sorry!”
A golden-haired white woman’s face appeared, full of unease, and she rubbed her painful shoulder and whispered apologies. The other hand was on the wall of the cave, and her feet did not stop. She hurried out next to Zhang Zian, and the elfins moved aside to make way.
What was going on?
Why was she walking so fast even when the lighting was not good? Was she not scared that she would knock into people or fall?
Zhang Zian stared at her back in puzzlement and saw her moving out of the hole at a near jog until she was bathed in the intense sunshine. She stopped like she had been relieved of a burden and gasped heavily.
He recognized her from her clothes. She was the one who had just entered the pyramid not long ago.
“Godd*mn! What’s she doing?” Vladimir was almost speechless because it had been avoiding to the left and right just now, but she had still almost stepped on it. Because her steps were very messy, it was not possible to predict her route at all.
“Gah! Did this woman drink too much water and need to urinate urgently?” Richard muttered. “If she was really in a rush, she could’ve just relieved herself here…”
Zhang Zian glared sideways at it, meaning that if it dared to test that out on the spot, he would sacrifice it alive here.
Anyone with a little common sense knew that it was not appropriate to drink too much water when traveling so as to avoid not being able to find a toilet at the last minute. And it was so hot today that drinking water all the time might not make up for the loss of sweat.
Rather than saying that she needed to use the toilet urgently, it was better to say that she seemed to have met with something…that made her nervous and uneasy, causing her to leave the pyramid earlier.
The elfins also found it strange. This kind of tourist spot that was popular, but people could not even bring bags into it. What could happen here?
Zhang Zian could not help but remember his worries before this, about terrorist attacks and the curse of the pyramid, but the situation did not seem to be that serious.
If there was a terrorist attack, it would only happen in those messy neighborhoods and areas in the city. What was the use of attacking the pyramids? Dozens of pounds of plastic explosives thrown in might not be able to affect these ten thousand tons of boulders.
As for the vague curse, neither Zhang Zian nor the elfins believed it.
“Cheep cheep.”
Pi seemed to have been affected by the nervous emotions, its claws holding the corner of Zhang Zian’s shirt even tighter. Unlike dogs and cats, it had good night vision. It wanted to play a drum to announce its retreat facing the dark road ahead, and it also wanted to quit and stay outside with Galaxy.
“Don’t worry, there are lights that will light the way in front of us,” Zhang Zian said and patted its head.
Famous said, “I think the woman just now may have slight claustrophobia. She insisted on walking inside for a while, but the attack of claustrophobia forced her to withdraw halfway.”
This statement was generally accepted by everyone. After all, the tunnel was dark and narrow. Even if normal people entered, they would feel constrained and imagine that the huge rock overhead may come down at any time. If people with psychiatric disorders such as claustrophobia came in, their panic would surely get worse.
Pi nodded and was slightly more at ease.
The small tunnel the tomb robber had dug quickly merged with the tunnels originally existing in the pyramid.
There were lighting facilities and wooden walkways installed by the Egyptian government to facilitate visitors’ access, and there was still enough light to illuminate everything around them.
There was a 20-30 degree incline uphill road with huge granite strips on both sides of the passage, which were intact and strong, larger than those weathered and fractured boulders outside the pyramid.
Just like the rumors, the cutting of the granite strips was incredibly skilled, and a needle could barely be inserted in the gaps between the stones.
One of the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians’ pyramids was how these huge granite slates came from Aswan 500 miles away and how they were cut so neatly. Cutting tofu with a knife was not the same.
Scientists had researched and came up with an explanation, but this was still hard for people to believe.
The top wall of the passage was about 20 meters high. It was magnificent. It was probably the passage of ascension that the pharaoh had reserved for his soul.
The granite strips on both sides were complete, but if one looked closely, one could see that many of them were engraved with fine handwriting on the surface—not the curse left by Pharaoh, of course, but the engraving of “someone was here” in various languages.
Fina looked at the traces of the words left behind by these inconsiderate tourists, and her face became long instantly because it was like blasphemy against Pharaoh.
Zhang Zian shook his head secretly. The pyramid was the tomb of Pharaoh. Was it a good thing for them to engrave their names in the tomb?
Everything was possible in this world. Who dared to say that gods really didn’t exist? If one day Pharaoh came back to life and saw this graffiti, he would explode in anger, and it would be necessary to pull out all the masters of these names one by one.
The strange part of this was, as of now, besides meeting that lady who had walked out, where were the people that had yet to leave?
